Iceland to serve as backdrop for 'Star Wars 7'?

Gorgeous landscape may get a starring role in a galaxy far, far, away.

Could Iceland's rugged and natural beauty become the backdrop from an alien world in the "Star Wars" universe. According to a report from the Icelandic website Visir, a production crew for "Star Wars Episode VII" will visit the country next month to take "plate shots."

For those not familiar with plate shots, they're primarily used as stand-in backgrounds for scenes shot elsewhere; such as a green-screen film studio. But don't expect this latest film to copy the all-digital, nothing-real crapfest that was the "Star Wars" prequels. Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, has already made it clear that Episode 7 will return to the production roots of the original trilogy.

"We're looking at what the early Star Wars films did; they used real locations with special effects," she said last year. "So [for Episode VII] we're going to find some very cool locations, [and] we're going to end up using every single tool in the toolbox."

To that end, speculation is rife that Iceland could receive on-location shooting later this year. One location rumored by JJ Abrams and Co. for a possible shoot is Langjökull, home to the country's second-largest ice cap; as well as a variety of volcanos, waterfalls, and other naturally unique characteristics.

Should "Star Wars" come to Iceland, it would be the latest in what's a very impressive stretch of Hollywood films to have used the location. In the past several years, films like "Star Trek: Into Darkness," "Noah," "Thor," "Interstellar," and "Prometheus," have all shot there.